Voice of the People: Republican Deadbeats

A deadbeat is someone who does not pay his bills or fulfill similar obligations.

Working families in America cannot afford to elect any more deadbeat Republicans.

Republican Governor Chris Christie’s proposed contribution to the state pension fund still keeps the state on the reckless path of making insufficient payments than needed to fulfill our obligations.

That is no real change from the irresponsible practice by elected officials of all political stripes since Republican Christine Todd Whitman.

This has given us a $171 billion unfunded liability — unsecured debt — that endangers the retirement of people who dedicated their lives to working in public service.

Instead of embracing the ‘millionaires tax,’ Chrisie wants to cut that state income tax in a way that favors those who already have the most to live on.

Christie’s budget represents a sharp increase in spending while also proposing more than $530 million in tax cuts while rejecting any return to prior rates for millionaires as ‘tax increases’ even though idle millionaires like Mitt Romney keep more than 85 percent of their income and working people keep about 53 percent.

Christie is making no investment for New Jersey’s future transportation needs although he wants to flush away $89 million on debt service to continue the borrowing scheme that replaced a real, responsible capital spending strategy during the administration of Republican Tom Kean.

Republican deadbeats are a relatively new phenomenon, going back only 32 years to Ronald Reagan, whose reductions in support for the poor, tax cuts for the rich, and tax increases for middle-class working families added up to bury Americans in the massive federal debt we hear GOP politicians complain about so often.

Reagan cut taxes and increased spending, tilting the budget so out of balance that he went back and raised taxes on the middle class. All that spending, however, was on expensive new weapons technology and reckless military adventures.

Republican deadbeats are trying to reverse the cause of freedom, equality and, justice by wrapping themselves in American flags, quoting biblical scriptures and blaming the people and institutions that created the American Dream for distress invented by the GOP.

So-called ‘tax and spend liberals’ have been far more fiscally responsible than the deadbeat Republicans who have cornered the market on class division, debt and depression.